User blog:Reaper with no name/The Symbolism of the Scientists
Today on Reaper's Blog 4 Thinkin', we (or rather, I, since the post will be done before any of you get a say in it, so ha!) will be exploring the symbolism of two characters who are otherwise easily ignored: Newt and Gottlieb. What do these two characters symbolize, you ask? The two halves of science: experiment and theory. From the first time we see the two in their labs, the difference in their approaches to research are immediately obvious. Newt is up to his elbows in dead Kaiju parts, while Gottlieb employs the stereotypical chalkboard of mathematics. Gottlieb is depicted as being physically frail and out-of-touch with societal norms (in keeping with the stereotype of the "boring genius"). Meanwhile, Newt clearly tries to represent the "cooler" side of science that focuses on actually doing things (note that he "fails" at "being cool" due to the fact that he also represents the nerd demographic). Gottlieb's approach to science is purely theoretical, with mathematics as his sole tool. His is a world of black and white with no room for grey. Newt, on the other hand, is concerned only with experimenting and seeing what happens. The two naturally believe in the superiority of their own method over the other, and therefore clash on a regular basis. Historically speaking, experiment took the leading role in science. Only after many experiments (which individually would yield puzzling results) could a pattern emerge and a theoretical framework for explaining a phenomena created. However, in modern times our ability to make theories has outstripped our ability to test them (some of the most compelling theories of our time, such as string theory, remain largely untested simply because the technology needed to directly test them does not exist). As a result of this, theory has taken the lead, with experiment lagging behind (used more to confirm what is already known than to discover new things). So, it is no surprise that Pentecost initially rejects Newt's ideas and embraces Gottlieb's. Of course, things change after Newt successfully drifts with the Kaiju brain. Note how, in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, Gottlieb initially insists that what Newt is telling them is impossible. His faith in his theoretical models to predict is so strong (and his faith in Newt's experimentalist philosophy so feeble) that he cannot fathom the idea of something that is not predicted by his theory (prompting a sudden about-face by Pentecost). However, it is worth noting that Gottlieb's bomb plan is still on (even though we later find it won't work as initially conceived), and that Newt's initial drift doesn't actually yield any useful data (outside of world-building, anyway). In other words, neither approach is sufficient on its own. But at what turns out to be the climax of their subplot, Gottlieb, frustrated by the appearance of two kaiju instead of three (which later does turn out to be three) decides to do the drift with Newt. And it is this drift that saves the day. Just like it does elsewhere in the movie, the drift represents the meeting of two individuals (which in this case, also represents the meeting of two ideologies). The fact of the matter is, theory and experiment need each other. Isolated experiments are meaningless, because they yield data without context, which therefore cannot be used to understand or predict phenomena (which is the entire point of science). On the other hand, a theoretical framework with an incomplete body of knowledge will yield predictions that do not match reality (making it equally worthless). Theory is used to understand and make predictions about the universe, but theory is informed by experiment. Only together can science flourish. And indeed, this is just what we see from the movie, as the experimental data from the drift allows Newt and Gottlieb to immediately plug the holes in the theory behind Operation: Pitfall. And it's no coincidence that the last scene we see of the two of them establishes that they have become friends. Cooperation: It's not just for people piloting giant robots. Category:Blog posts